Container cap with trap dispensing means

ABSTRACT

The invention is a cap for a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;pill bottle&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; consisting of upper and lower members forming a discharge passage therein and therebetween, discharge being possible only upon certain unanticipatable manipulations of the cap.

United States Patent Palomo Feb. 18, 1975 [54] CONTAINER CAP WITH TRAPDISPENSING 2,669,349 2/1954 Silver 221 /276 x MEANS 2,857,083 10/1958Masterson 222/362 X 3,065,846 11/1962 Amick 221/263 ux Inventor: ManuelPalomo, 2530 Thorn 3,245,589 4/1966 Temliak 221 /265 x Dr., Mississauga,Ontario, Canada 3,318,491 5/1967 Williamson 206/42 UX 3,471,0 6 K 4 1 7221 F1led: Feb. 21, 1973 5 M969 22 /2 6 X Appl. No.: 334,304

U.S. Cl. 221/263 Int. Cl B65d 83/04 Field of Search 221/263, 264, 265,266,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1926 Moak 221/276 X 12/1951Holt et al 221/263 X Primary Examiner-Stanley H. Tollberg AssistantExaminer-Francis J. Bartuska Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Howard MylesSchwinger [5 7] ABSTRACT The invention is a cap for a pill bottleconsisting of upper and lower members forming a discharge passagetherein and therebetween, discharge being possible only upon certainunanticipatable manipulations of the cap.

1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB l 8|9Y5 FIGZ FIVG.

Y FIG.6

Fla-5 CONTAINER CAP WITH TRAP DISPENSING MEANS OBJECTS OF THE INVENTIONIt is amongst the primary objects of this invention to provide a tamperproof cap for a pill bottle or the like which deters access to itscontents to the unknowing and the re-use of the container.

THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a cap in accordance withthe invention mounted on a container;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the cap in side elevation;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the lower member of the FIG. 4 is asectional view of the upper member of the cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the lower member of another embodiment ofcap; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the upper member of the cap of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A cap 10 in accordance with the inventionis shown mounted on container 12 in FIG. 1. The cap consists of upperand lower members 14 and 16 as shown in FIG.

The lower member is directly mounted on the container and is providedwith bead 18 adapted to fit into a slot (not shown) formed in the neckof the container to hold the lower member in fixed position with respectto the container.

A portion of lower member 16 is set back from its remainder to form anedge 20 by means of which the cap can seat on the lip of the container.Thus member 16 extends interiorly and exteriorly of the bottle forreasons hereinafter appearing. In lieu of this set back, member 16 needmerely be provided with a seating ring while remaining otherwise ofuniform diameter.

Bottom wall 22 of lower member 16 is exteriorly inclined to form achute. When the container is turned upside down, pills are moved bygravity along the inclined surface to opening 24 formed in wall 22. Arecess 26 formed in upper member 14 corresponds in diameter to that ofopening 24 and when recess 26 aligns with opening 24, the interior ofthe cap is in direct communication with the interior of the containerand an item from the container can gain access to the interior of thecap.

If the upper member is thereafter turned in a counter-clockwisedirection, recess 26 and content will eventually align with opening 28formed in the sidewall of member 16. A corresponding opening 30 formedin the sidewall of the upper member provides access to the exterior.

It may be seen that by virtue of this construction a relatively tamperproof cap has been provided, a cap which, amongst other things, cannotbe readily opened by a child manipulating the cap by chance although ablind person having instructions would have no difficuity in gainingaccess to the contents of the container.

To extract a pill or other item from the container, the container mustbe first turned upside down so a pill may be directed to opening 24.Either before or after the inversion of the container the cap must berotated in a clockwise direction to align opening 24 and recess 26. Oncethis occurs, the cap must be rotated on a counter clockwise direction toalign recess 26 with opening 28, recess 26 and opening 30 beingpermanently aligned.

Hence, a sequence of three distinct movements of the container isrequired to extract something from the interior:

1. the inversion of the container 2. a clockwise movement of the cap,and

3. a counter clockwise movement of the cap.

The odds against this occurring by chance would appear to be remote. I

Accurate alignment is insured by the provision of a stop 32 in the lowermember. The stop extends into a recess 34 formed in the upper member.Recess 34 is dimensioned so that member 26 aligns with opening 24 whenfurther rotation of the upper member in one direction, is prevented andwith opening 28 when further rotation of the upper member is preventedin the opposite direction.

The cap may not be readily removed from the container being held thereonby a locking ring 36. A segmented skirt 38 permits the cap to be readilymounted on the locking ring but not readily removed therefrom.

The cap material is preferably of a flexible plastic and the containeras well as the cap may readily be manufactured by injection moldingtechniques.

The plastic employed should be impact resistant and in the case of thecap, resilient enough to permit expansion of the skirt without fractureduring capping. The container could be of clear transparent plastic butall other portions should be opaque so that the operation of themechanism cannot be observed.

A shallow anti-load depression 40 is provided in the lower member tofrustrate reloading attempts. If the cap is deliberately manipulated sothat access to its interior may be had and a pill introduced therein,the pill would lodge in depression 40 and effectively jam the mechanism,as may be seen in the drawing.

If, by inverting the container, depression 40 is avoided and a pill isactually introduced into the cap, the walls forming opening 24 areangled to deter reentry of a pill into the container although it is thisvery angling which facilitates the entry of a pill into the cap from thecontainer. In FIGS. 5 and 6 a modification is shown whereby the uppermember is spring biased and automatically closes off the dischargesystem when not in use.

In this modification, the lower member is provided with a flexible leaf42'which when in equilibrium extends across opening 24 to obstruct thesame. Leaf 42 is preferably integral with the remainder of lower member16 and is anchored only at one end so it may be flexed. A slot 44dimensioned to house the leaf is formed in upper member14 and whenmember 16 is turned in a clockwise direction, the leaf bends so as toclear opening 24 and admit an item into the cap. When the leaf is turnedin a counter clockwise direction it will move the item to openings 28and 30 so that the item can be discharged from the cap, the leaf alwaysurging the return of the upper member to its equilibrium position. Onceagain, the container must be inverted for the operation to be carriedoff successfully.

I claim:

l. A container cap comprising a lower partitioning member adapted toplug the mouth of a container and be held in fixed position with respecttherewith; an upper capping member mounted over the plug having achamber formed in its underside; said capping member being movablearound the container mouth; a discharge opening formed in the cappingmember; a discharge passage formed in the lower partitioning member; thechamber and passage being unobstructedly alignable upon the movement ofthe capping member; the chamber and the opening being alignable uponfurther movement of the capping member; said capping member being springbiased with the spring obstructing the discharge passage in the restposition of the capping member.

1. A container cap comprising a lower partitioning member adapted toplug the mouth of a container and be held in fixed position with respecttherewith; an upper capping member mounted over the plug having achamber formed in its underside; said capping member being movablearound the container mouth; a discharge opening formed in the cappingmember; a discharge passage formed in the lower partitioning member; thechamber and passage being unobstructedly alignable upon the movement ofthe capping member; the chamber and the opening being alignable uponfurther movement of the capping member; said capping member being springbiased with the spring obstructing the discharge passage in the restposition of the capping member.